To wonder how the general public would actually react if the government took drastic climate change measures?

[tequilasunrises]

I’m talking about measures that would severely restrict people’s ability to live how they choose. For example, implanting a one/two child policy, heavy restrictions on animal products and car and air travel mileage.

From reading threads on here and talking to people in real life it is clear that many people agree something needs to be done to stop climate change but aren’t willing to make the bigger sacrifices.

So, who thinks there would be uproar and who thinks the public would be behind extreme measures?

I’d be very sad to have my travel opportunities limited but would be behind it for the greater good.

I'd be very happy if the government took some actual action on the climate crisis. I think legislation needs to come in to force big business to change e.g. no single use plastic, minimal plastic. Set up community lending centres so we don't all have to own so much stuff. Look at making business pay for the environmental damage they cause e.g. fashion. Massively subsidise/provide solar and wind technology to homes. Invest in green technologies etc.

Sadly I think the vast majority of people don't understand how serious the situation is. Do we need a major public information campaign for example? And a large chunk don't care.

As others have said, the chances of a government being voted in on such a manifesto is minimal.

The bottom line is people wouldn't vote for it and they'd eject any government who said that they couldn't fly multiple times a year.

Everyone always has an excuse that they think doesn't apply to them:

" I work away so I have to fly - DO YOU THINK I SHOULDNT SEE MY CHILDREN/AGED PARENTS!!"

Yep, I think you should move back home. I don't give a crap about how much money you earn in Saudi or that your parents retired at 50 and moved to Spain and now need help - these are inherently selfish, damaging choices created by individuals.

We all KNOW we are doing wrong. We know it and we still do it.

I don't even judge people for it. We're all hypocrites including me !

Business needs to change, capitalism in its current form needs to change. We all need to live a much more local life and reduce our expectations.

But we won't, no government will impose it (political suicide) so we WILL DIE.

It's literally that fucking simple.

With people who need cars as they have a disability or live rural. The government should subsidies electric cars. I need a car and would be happy to swap to an electric one if they were not so dam expensive.

Good healthy food doesn’t need to be expensive but even the poorer in our society need to look at what they are eating and buying. Veg, eggs, milk all produced in the uk are still cheap. Meat is the most expensive item on most shopping lists. So reduce the meat consumption. The government use the extra tax raised to support British farming will also reduce the cost.
No one needs a dfs sofa. There is other options buying secondhand would be a better option than importing more.
And if the brush furniture industry was revived it will not only supply jobs that are not London based but the cost will also come down.

If half of mn looked around their homes how many will see imported furniture. Your ikea wardrobe, dfs sofa, lamp from China.
All bought to you via a carbon foot print that is unnecessary.
Our first thought when we need to buy something should be now can we get what we need without adding to waste and carbon footprint.
So buy secondhand, buy British, buy in season, buy less meat and buy less crap that we just don’t need. Wardrobes full of clothes that are hardly worn, that new pair of shoes or handbag that you bought as it was in the sale. All that baby equipment you just must have as it is your pfb( I guarantee you won’t need or use half of it)
We must stop consuming and get back to buying only what we need. Shopping is not a hobby to be done on Saturday as you are bored.

With people who need cars as they have a disability or live rural. The government should subsidies electric cars. I need a car and would be happy to swap to an electric one if they were not so dam expensive.

And what about charging them? Rural towns don't have charging points for these cars. Plenty of terraced houses just have on-street parking as well, so you can't install them in garages or on driveways. To change people's mindsets and attitudes requires the government to overhaul the infrastructure of most of the country.

I work in a town that has two charging points. That's it. The town I live in doesn't have any - the closest is at least thirty minutes away. My house has on-street parking and no garage or driveway to install one on, so an electric car just wouldn't work here.

It's all well and good saying "get the train/bus", "use an electric car" but those things can only work if they're a) affordable and b) the infrastructure is in place to make them viable alternatives.

it is the highest, or one of the highest, in the EU

It is above average for the EU but below replacement. No country that has a birth rate below 2 children per woman can be seen as having an issue with excess births. No country in the EU has a birth rate over 2, according to the most recent Eurostat info France is the highest at 1.9, UK is 1.71 and EU average is 1.59.

Being above a very very low average doesn't make either France or the UK high.

The Global aviation’s industry only accounts for 2% of emissions causing global warming. Even if we cut flying in half, we would only cut emissions by 1%. Besides, they are trialling battery& solar powered planes anyway. Having households move to just having one car instead of two would have a bigger impact.

Having children isn’t “bad for the environment” anymore than deciding to live past age 40. After all a child living from 0-40 has a lower impact on the environment than an adult living from 40-80yrs of age. If you’re that concerned about the planet, why be selfish and live to 80?

The top three emitters are China, US and EU. The EU has been reducing emissions steadily for the past few decades and is on track to be net zero by 2050. US peaked in 2007 and has flat lined. This is encouraging. What is not encouraging is that China has increased every year. We should be focussed on making climate change actions mandatory in any trade agreement with US and China (which the EU has done and post Brexit we will need to do as well).

The biggest source of emissions is electricity use. 25% globally. A lot of that goes to heat up here in the northern part of the EU.
So things like supermarkets adding doors to fridges is worthwhile.
Everyone should be saving electricity as well in whatever way they can.

I agree working from home would be a huge help because multiple office buildings could be converted to flats to help with the housing crisis instead of building on our few green spaces. We’d save all the emissions from cats, trains, busses travelling on daily commutes.

*cats should be cars obvs...

I have noticed in my local coastal town an increase in the number of multi-storey car parks who have added charing stations. If the NCP car park can manage it I don’t see why the government can’t.
If these charging stations were added to existing garages, car parks and even government buildings maybe via a government grant you wouldn’t need to charge at home.
The infrastructure is not there now but it could be put in place if everyone was serious about tackling climate change. But most just pay lip service to it and won’t change their lives in anyway.

@LaurieFairyCake
No, we won’t die. Don’t be ridiculous. The planet was warmer in 1380 than it is now.
And please don’t erase the past seventy years of serious environmental laws and actions by governments in the west. The question of the climate and environment is not new, and it’s not a crisis. Things were worse when we had blasted a hole in the ozone layer. Which we fixed.
I’m not saying the job is done, we do need to continue, but we have already had massive successes and progress.

I was in Cornwall about a month ago, didn’t see one charging point and saw one electric car (it was Dutch).

Again it comes down to what’s best, diesel (or hybrid) is (currently) still the best option for a commuter who does 20k a year upwards, it still has less impact than an electric or petrol. What messed it up was encouraging the short commuter into a diesel, they should never have been in a diesel, a small petrol engine was what they needed, but tax incentives and perceived efficiency pushed them into diesel. So vilifying diesel completely is wrong.
DPFs were the biggest con out there and are still causing huge issues, lots were mis sold to people as the answer, they are, if you do 20k a year with decent motorway use. But they were being sold as solving the issue on town cars with 8000 a year. Causing regeneration issues and eventual mechanical failure.

Eventually electric will replace diesel, but we just aren’t there yet.

I dont feel saying there is a lack of infrastructure is valid long term- eg no buses is a reason for struggling now but not a reason for the government to not look at investing heavily in public transport and cycle lanes so in 20 years time we arent ssying the same thing. Its the same with charging points, obviously a massive logistical issue but one than can be significantly improved. At one point there was no railway network at all - then in z decade most of the uk rail network appeared.

Electric cars are no good if the electricity being used to charge them was obtained from burning coal, incinerating waste, burning gas...etc. You get no CO2 savings and actually probably cause more because of energy loss from a power grid.
An electric car is only a benefit to the environment if it’s using green electricity.

Don’t forget electricity causes 25% of global emissions....far higher than flying which accounts for 2%. Electric cars contribute to that 25%.
Unless the electricity is green, you are still contributing to global warming. You’re just polluting the area around the power plant instead of the roads you drive on. Out of sight, out of mind?

But lack of infrastructure is a reason for your average commuter to drive to work instead of getting the train or bus and until the government decides to change things, what can people do?

Big issues that increased the number of cars on the road- Uber & Lyft, and Amazon Prime.
Look it up, these are the top two reasons behind increased traffic congestion in major cities.

I wish people wouldn't conflate politics and environmental concern. Fundamentally agreeing with conservative politics does not mean that a person does not have concerns about the environment.

Fundamentally agreeing with conservative politics

What does this actually mean? 😂😂😂

The point is that letting money drive everything and the environment don't go together.

Very few people whatever idiotic politicians they vote for actually care enough about the environment enough to make meaningful changes. That's kinda the problem which this thread shows.

It's all about putting reusable bags into the 4wd while suggesting other people should turn vegetarian (because they don't like meat and are dairy intolerant anyway) and stop flying (because unlike them they don't have relatives abroad so don't need to.). Sneering at the environmental damage caused by small new builds while stretching out in their centrally heated drafty old barn and visiting their holiday home at weekends.

Plus as someone else has pointed out it is a global problem anyway and as India etc grow economically it will get worse. But why shouldn't they utilise the same resources that we do?

When you understand that one google search would power a lightbulb for 17 seconds and how much people stream tv nowadays, it really isn't just about flying. People also burn a lot of energy staying home!!

business.directenergy.com/blog/2017/november/powering-a-google-search

It has been happening op.

UK has shut down coal powered power stations.

Other countries are building new ones still.

It makes no sense to me.

Id like to see corporations forced to take action first. Its quite hard making decisions and having no idea if your washable bamboo kitchen towel is better or worse than disposable sustainable forest paper towel. Id just like to only be sold sustainable stuff.

So you are willing to pay a lot more for all the basics? To be truly “sustainable” a product has to take account of all the environmental and social costs associated with production. So, for that would include the environmental and social costs of production, transportation and disposal.

Posters keep saying that big companies should make the big changes to make their products and services more sustainable. But that will raise costs to the consumer hugely - and in our liberal market economy that means lower earners will lose out, hugely.

I would be in favour, as long as other conditions entrained in our society changed too.

For example, I would support a strict limit on the number of air-miles per person per year, but only if annual leave allowances were increased by 1-2 weeks to account for the extra time it takes to travel by train.

I don’t think largescale law changes, without necessary adjustments, would be fair.

*engrained

What a out sanctions on big businesses - the ones who actually have caused this mess by putting money over environmental impact? Statistically, they are the ones who are at fault.

Who do you mean?

Complaining about yoghurt tubs when we all buy millions of them every day is pointless - the answer is to stop buying stuff in plastic. Then the manufacturers will magically find a solution like the waxed cardboard they used to use - they weren't impact resistant but if you were careful about packing your shopping you managed fine.

WallyWallyWally - well yes i am paying more but the issue is so complex i dont know if i have spent my money in the right way. What if my bamboo cloths are worse than the cheaper paper ones. I just dont know. Thatscwhy i would like some leadership

A big part of the problem, in my opinion, is the way our environment has been designed around cars - the assumption seems to be that most people will have a car, and will use it for getting to work and for leisure activities and household errands - so the public transport infrastructure has been allowed to die back, and there is less emphasis on making public transport work together, and out of town shopping centres have proliferated, to the detriment of the high street and local shops.

In terms of food waste, it makes a lot of sense to go to the shops each day - preferably on foot - and buy just what you need for that day's meals. But you can't do that unless you have a greengrocer, a baker, and a butcher within walking distance - and I suspect many, if not most of us do not have this. And that's even if we had enough time in the day to walk to and from the shops.